A caddie is part strategist, part logistics manager, and part advisor. According to Kevin Kisner, the best ones make all of that look effortless. The golfer knows the difference between a caddy who elevates a player and one who gets in his way. He has gone on record before, saying caddying at the PGA Tour level is way harder than people think, and now, once again, he shares what characteristics he looks for in the man walking beside him.

“I think too many guys try to over-caddie,” he said on the Fore Play podcast on Thursday. “We’re really, really, really good at golf. And the caddie just needs to help us perform at the highest level more often. And they need to be ready when we ask them.

“As I go to all these other clubs and guys are caddying for me, and I just see so many guys trying to over-caddie instead of, and they have to, to a certain extent at a club. They got 15 handicaps that they’re just trying to get around a golf course they probably don’t know, and they’re used to doing that. And then, when they go get a guy on tour, it’s like, ‘Hey, you got to hit it at this tree, and you want to go here.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude, you show me how to hit it one time, and then I’ll start listening to you.'”

Here’s the thing: On tour, players are among the most technically refined athletes in the sport. They have coaches, swing instructors, and years of competitive experience that shape every decision they make on the course. Hence, they don’t need a caddy that makes decisions for them. Instead, they need someone who can help them fight the friction in the moment.

Former PGA Tour player Bradley Hughes, who now coaches, had also shared a similar view once. He said the most important ability in a good caddie is the ability to read their player and know when to be assertive and when to be passive.

For Kisner, his caddie needs to be organized and ready whenever the player needs him. That standard was set by Duane Bock, who carried his bag for 14 years. Their partnership is one of the longest caddie-player relationships in recent PGA Tour history.

The two first met at a U.S. Open 36-hole qualifier in Memphis, where Bock was caddying for another player. After watching him work for just a few practice holes, Kisner was impressed by how prepared, tidy, and efficient he was. The two stayed in touch since then, and that friendship evolved into a professional relationship, one that saw Bock caddie for the golfer through all four of his Tour wins.

But being a caddie is way more difficult than one thinks!

Kisner has experienced one of the best caddie relationships, sure, but he has seen the other version, too. At the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial, his friend Russ Andrew, a real estate lawyer, became his caddie. That too, with zero prior experience. Of course, Kisner had warned him, but Andrew was determined. He booked the flight to Fort Worth before Kisner could even say no.

And when it came to the actual job, he struggled with the basics.

Speaking on the Fore Play Podcast earlier, Kisner shared that Andrew did not even have the Kisner shared that Andrew did not even have the towels in place on the 1st hole. The head cover was missing by hole 3. And the balls, well, they were all over the place.

That was tough! But the best example of what Kisner considers ideal is Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott. Scott came to Scheffler’s bag in late 2021, but not without hesitation. He had seen Scheffler’s competitive intensity on the course and was upfront about it, telling the golfer directly that his attitude had to change.

Scheffler’s response was simple: he agreed to work with him. Scott’s job since then has been to keep Scheffler steady, manage the moments where his intensity spikes, and stay out of the way when the golf is good.